windows 8.1 with fantom x8 drivers

[easiersaid]

Hello folks. i own a fantom x8 and a maschine mikro. all was working great until i updated to windows 8.1. now the driver wont install for windows 8. Very frustrating to say the least. i can connect to my computer just to move files. But as stated before the driver keeps getting hung up and the fantom isnt showing inside maschines midi devices. is there a way around this? can someone point me in the right direction? thx in advance.

[JunoJohn]

Welcome to the Roland Clan, Easiersaid!

Unfortunately, it looks like Roland has dropped support with Windows 8.1 for the entire Fantom line.

http://www.roland.com/support/article/? ... d=63060593

[easiersaid]

you have got to be kidding me. so what are my other ....only options? bc ive tried the compatibility option but its a no go. tried to go back to win 8.0.....thats a no go as well. are their any other options other than buying a piece of hardware or installing win 7? i really like the x8 but this is a blower.

[Vlad_77]

Welcome to the Roland Clan, Easiersaid!

Unfortunately, it looks like Roland has dropped support with Windows 8.1 for the entire Fantom line.

http://www.roland.com/support/article/? ... d=63060593

Another brilliant move by the out of touch Roland. Pity.

(And yes, four of my eight synths/workstations are Roland, so, not trolling here).

I am convinced that Roland is suffering from cranial-rectal inversion.

[rcraven]

Can't help but feel that Microsoft want to kill off Midi.
They certainly killed off running status.
Too hard for them I guess or is it they don't own it. MS Bloat is the way to go.

It seems like a good reason not to go with Win8 rather than give up the Fantom.

All the best
Royce

[howardS]

It seems there is also no 8.1 support for any of the stage pianos either such as the RD700nx.

[easiersaid]

Had i did a little research before i upgraded from 8.0 to 8.1 i wouldnt have dont the install. but who would have thought that 8.1 would do that....or that roland wouldnt or hasnt dropped a driver patch yet. Not so much angry....just saddened. the Fantom x8 was my first piece of real equipment....really dont wanna get rid of it.....but what the retail value#small talk.

[howardS]

I dont think you need to get rid of it just for this, easiersaid. You could perhaps grab a cheap USB to MIDI adapter and connect to the Fantom through the old style MIDI port on the X8. I think you lose storage mode but I never trusted the drivers enough anyhow to copy files directly to the X's internal memory or to the card. I always used a card reader and wrote from the computer directly to the card.

[howardS]

I wanted to edit the post I made earlier in this thread but it is too old to edit. It seems they updated the driver list so now the 8.0 drive for the RD700nx appears to work in 8.1 as well. Still no Fantom-X driver though....hmmm.

[Luc]

Anyone tried to workaround with Midi to USB converter?

I could see why Roland is not updating driver for a 10 year old product but seems it wouldn't be that much work to update the driver:-(.

I see Roland replied on their 8.1 blog post on this:

"At this point, it appears that Roland Japan will not be releasing any new USB drivers to support the Fantom-X series. Here are links to the official listings for both Mac OSX 10.9 (Mavericks) and Windows 8.1:

http://www.roland.com/support/article/? ... d=63061613
http://www.roland.com/support/article/? ... d=63060593

You can see on both lists that the Fantom-X series is currently not planned for compatibility.

If you need to connect your Fantom-X to a computer with either of these newer operating systems, you will need to use a separate MIDI or Audio/MIDI interface that does have newer drivers available.

Best Regards,

Product Support
Roland Corp. U.S."

[Tektoo]

Got the driver to work on my Win8.1 / Fantom-XR like this:

Edit the RDIF1045.inf file

Copy the info from [Roland.NTamd64.6.2] so it looks like this:

[Roland.NTamd64.6.3]
;; Windows8.1
%RDID0045DeviceDesc%=RDID0045Install, USB\VID_0582&PID_006D ; FANTOM-X

Disable the check for signed drivers - follow the guide on this page
http://tivadj-tech.blogspot.in/2012/09/ ... lling.html

You should now be able to install the Fantom-X midi driver.

[my05]

Great catch Tektoo :-)

(still running win 7 but good to know when i take the leap myself

[Luc]

Got the driver to work on my Win8.1 / Fantom-XR like this:

Edit the RDIF1045.inf file

Copy the info from [Roland.NTamd64.6.2] so it looks like this:

[Roland.NTamd64.6.3]
;; Windows8.1
%RDID0045DeviceDesc%=RDID0045Install, USB\VID_0582&PID_006D ; FANTOM-X

Disable the check for signed drivers - follow the guide on this page
http://tivadj-tech.blogspot.in/2012/09/ ... lling.html

You should now be able to install the Fantom-X midi driver.

Fantastic!!!! This worked for me. So I did this:

1) I modified as described the RDIF1045.INF file (copy section and change to 64.6.3)
2) Open settings menu (e.g. hold Windows + I or swipe from right). Now hold shift button and choose restart
3) After please wait you see a menu and choose 'advanced settings'
4) Then choose no signed driver settings
5) Reboot and install the setup.exe in appropiate folder. I found I had to wait 2-3 minutes after plugging in Fantom but the device manager already showed the device correctly under 'Sound, video and game controllers).

[howardS]

Sometimes stability issues only surface after using software with a workaround for a little while. Let us know if any stability issues arise with the driver. Thanks.

[Sean]

I was unable to get this to work for me. I updated the ini file but windows would not let me complete the install and ask me to uninstall and then reboots. It there another workaround?

Windows 8.1, x6, machine, Tascam and m-audio 1814
Thanks